Spiral
by californian444
Summary: And it was only around a year later that she would regret ever introducing him to her best friend. Onesided XiaoJin
1. Spiral Downward

As the sun shown on Mishima High School, I couldn't help but smile as I walked towards the building, accompanied by my close friend Miharu.

She was rambling heatedly about a topic I could not recall, because admittedly, I had not been listening, instead admiring the school that grew in size as we drew closer to it. I mused and wondered to myself about what this school year would bring, before my thoughts were interrupted by a loud shriek.

"Tennis!"

"Tennis?' I repeated, blinking. I then looked at Miharu, who faced me and smiled, her auburn locks billowing with the wind. During that one moment, I felt a slight pang of jealousy; I had always admired her interesting hair color.

Pushing those traitorous thoughts to the back of my mind, I smiled.

"What about it?"

"You haven't been listening," She pointed out, allowing a soft smile to grace her facial features. She didn't look frustrated, only amused.

"I took tennis over the summer, and now I'm obsessed with it. I just love the way the racket feels when I grip it… The way the slight vibration resonates in my skeleton as the ball hits the titanium—"

"Okay, okay, I get it," I said, laughing. Miharu was showing her obsessive side once more and I smiled to myself, knowing that in a couple of months she would completely forget about the sport she supposedly loved.

I'd known Miharu since my first year at Mishima High School, and we'd been good friends ever since that first day. I have to admit, we did not have that much in common: she was laid-back and most of the time, unconcerned. I liked to think I was disciplined and orderly, that I knew what my priorities were. In fact, the only actual similarity we had was our identical fighting styles.

That alone, held our friendship together.

Or so I thought.

Miharu was everything I wasn't, and sometimes I wished I were more like her. I wished that I could crack people up with a joke like she could. However, my attempts at humor mostly resulted in unwarranted sarcasm, which further proved various people's beliefs that I was boring and bland.

I didn't think pessimistic ideas like those would eventually spiral out of control. But then again, I didn't foresee a lot of things.

We eventually reached a junction where we would separate, since we had different classes.

"I'm late for geology, gotta run! See you at recess!" Miharu waved swiftly as if it was an action she had rehearsed countless times. I waved back and she sprinted away, disappearing after rounding a corner.

I entered my first class (Math) and sat down, choosing an armchair situated near the back of the classroom. The chairs surrounding me were empty as well. Satisifed with the fact that I did not need to worry about personal space, I placed my interlaced fingers on the armrest of the chair and grinned. Then, I waited for the teacher to arrive.

Five minutes passed, and soon they became ten. The class was becoming restless, and various classmates talked among themselves as I sat silently at the back. Soon, the door finally opened and I perked up, expecting a stern-looking man or woman to enter the room.

But instead, I got Jin.

Jin Kazama was a handsome man, and I realized this the moment he entered the classroom. Unfortunately, my female classmates also realized this, and some of them giggled and winked.

I was pleased to see that he ignored their flirtations. Instead, the boy seemed more concerned about finding a seat.

His eyes met mine.

I shivered slightly, and before I knew it, he was striding towards me, his face expressionless. I couldn't help it. I blushed.

He took that moment as a good sign, and as he arrived in front of my desk, he smiled.

I wanted to melt. Suddenly, math didn't seem so important anymore.

"Hello," he said pleasantly. "My name is Jin Kazama. What's yours?"

"Xiaoyu…" I mumbled, voice uncharacteristically soft. It was the total opposite of my frequent battle cries. "Xiaoyu Ling…"

"Mind if I sit here?"

I merely shook my head and stared at my lap, not bothering to even see what chair he had been referring to. But movement at the corner of my right eye signified that he was seated beside me.

I dared to look straight into his eyes – his beautiful, brown eyes – and smiled shyly. He smiled back.

Before that incident, I hadn't believed in such a concept, but at that moment, I truly believed that fate had led to our meeting.

We became friends, soon enough. He was a new student at our school and I took it upon myself to show him around. We only shared that one class, but that Math unexpectedly became the class I went to school for, just to see Jin.

I had fallen head over heels over him, and I wondered whether he felt the same. He was kind. He was tender. He was sweet. He was all these things, and only to me, and I felt possessive and triumphant, knowing he did not display such characteristics to other girls.

We were inseparable by the time a month passed, though not yet romantically involved. I kept him to myself. I didn't tell anyone about my friendship with the mysterious Jin Kazama, not even Miharu, and like any ordinary human being, I began to feel guilty about keeping a secret, no matter how minor, from someone who was practically my best friend.

And so, it was on that fateful day, September 22nd, a Monday, that I decided to introduce Jin to Miharu.

It was supposed to be a simple thing I would forget all about later on. But what I did not know was that such an act would eventually ruin it.

It had seemed so casual.

"Miharu, this is my new friend, Jin. Jin, meet Miharu."

"Hey," Jin smiled, and for a second I felt rage. Before that, I was the only girl he'd smile at.

"'Sup?" She grinned and looked passive, which was normal for her.

Yes, it had seemed so casual, and I smiled all throughout, thinking nothing of it.

I never expected that introducing Jin to Miharu would lead to my eventual downfall.

To Be Continued


	2. Spin Out of Control

"That Miharu," Jin began, and I felt another wave of jealousy hit me. I couldn't help it. "…She's pretty cute."

"But she's lazy," I said rapidly without thinking. "And sometimes she's kind of weird. Changes her hobbies a lot." I was not aware that at that very moment, I was putting down my very own best friend.

"It's like, one day, she's designing these weird drawings that don't really make sense, and on the next day she suddenly says she loves tennis. Crazy, huh?" I forced my mouth into the most pleasant smile I could muster, and expected him to grin back. But instead, he looked thoughtful.

"Well, I _do_ like tennis. Maybe I should ask her to play with me sometime." At this point, I could not hide my envy any longer. My smile slid right off my face, and I stared at the ground sullenly, wishing that I was in Miharu's place instead.

Fortunately, Jin seemed to realize how much his words had stung. He cast me a concerned look and quickly added: "I like you more, though." My resolve quickly melted and before I knew it, I was completely in love with him again.

"I like you too," I whispered shyly, and he patted me on the head with one hand. I blushed.

"Come over to my house today," he said as we met up outside the building after school, like we usually did.

"Of course."

We were the only ones in his home, which did nothing to lower my embarrassment. I could not stare at him without blushing. In turn, he would give me soft looks every time he stared into my eyes. I asked myself when I had turned into such a lovesick girl, and then shook my head, trying to clear it of every negative thought.

"Next time, we should invite Mihara here to hang out with us," He suggested that night, as we said goodbye to each other on his doorstep.

"No!" I all but shrieked, and he stared. "She's really busy," I lied. "I can ask her for you, but I don't think she'll be able to." I simply could not control what I was saying. I knew that inviting Mihara along would be an act I would never do. I couldn't help but want Jin all to myself, to have special moments alone with him that wouldn't be interrupted by Miharu wanting to play another of her strange games with us.

"Oh, alright." There it was again. That mixed look of disappointment and longing that made me feel as if my heart had dropped down to the bottom of my stomach. I wanted to scream at him and declare that he was mine and mine only, not Miharu's or anyone else's. I was possessive. I was greedy. And I didn't care, because Jin had swept me off my feet and I had willingly allowed myself to be whisked away into the land of lovesick teenagers.

"Doesn't matter," he eventually said, after a few moments of silence. "I still had a lot of fun with you. Most fun I've had in months, even. I'll see you tomorrow, Xiaoyu." He closed the door.

My brows furrowed.

It was only thirty seconds later that I finally decided to get off his doorstep and start heading home. My legs moved on their own, leading me back to my own house. My head, on the other hand, was caught up in a tornado of confusion.

I liked to say I was good at reading people, at analyzing them and knowing I was the perceptive type. But Jin was an enigma. I was certain that I had a special place in his heart. I was, after all, his first and foremost closest friend in Mishima High School. But was I only a friend to him? There were times wherein I'd feel surges of electricity between us. Whenever we touched, I'd feel electricity shooting up and down my body.

I saw myself as a very logical and controlled person, but Jin made me twist and alter those perceptions into concepts that were foreign to me. I believed we were truly meant to be. I began to think that without him in my life, I would have had nothing at all.

I thought of myself as a depressed, lifeless drone, until Jin came into my life. It's like all my common sense had gone out the window, and I didn't care.

Did he have feelings for Mihara? I wondered, and that familiar green-eyed monster in me reared its head. I couldn't help being slightly angry at my best friend, asking myself: What if she takes him away from me?

I was glad I still had the ability to reason, for I told myself that Mihara was not like that. Throughout our years for being friends, she had never mentioned any boy (or girl), or any similar topic, like wanting to date.

After convincing myself that Mihara was asexual, I then clasped my hands and placed them against my beating heart.

As I stared up at the crystal clear sky, dotted with glittering stars, I then wished that Jin would eventually love me back.

My wish came true after a couple of months.

Jin and I proceeded to grow closer as my visits to his house grew more and more frequent. Even though he would ask me at times whether I had invited Mihara, I would say she was too busy to come. But the truth is that I had never once asked her. She was aware that I was always with him now, and I was glad to see that she did not seem to have complaints. She never once asked to join us, and I appreciated her for that.

A small voice at the back of my head would tell me that perhaps she was aware of my feelings for Jin, and that she was giving us several opportunities to graduate from friendship to romance. But just thinking of Jin mentioning her name made my blood boil.

I did my best trying to prevent the two from growing closer. I wanted him that badly.

Eventually, I mustered up the courage to tell him how much I liked him (love, I realized, was a very strong word).

"Jin…" I said softly one day, as we sat on his bed like we usually did. He stared at me, giving me that kind look again. My blush deepened.

"I have to tell you something…" My voice was barely audible, and miraculously, the boy next to me could still hear me.

"What is it?"

"I… Like. You." I looked away after the confession, feeling too embarrassed to stare into his beautiful eyes.

He placed a hand on my shoulder, and I expected the worst.

"I like you too, Xiaoyu," he admitted, and I felt something soft and wet on the top of my head.

He had kissed me.

I was overjoyed, and quickly spun around to hug him.

He was my first boyfriend, so everything was new to me. I would shyly hold his hand on the way to school. He would kiss me, and it would feel like heaven.

He would smile and stare only at me, especially when we were alone. During that time, I loved life. I cherished it. I loved him.

We began to go to school together, hand-in-hand, like usual couples did. I stopped going with Mihara, and she hadn't seemed to mind, although I never gave her an actual explanation.

I seldom accompanied her ever since I had found Jin.

It occurred to me that she didn't know that Jin and I were together yet. Before that, I had become uncomfortable in her presence. Just seeing her would make me jealous, because Jin wanted so much for her to go to his house.

For once, I wanted to see her again, I thought to myself as I gripped Jin's hand tightly, just to tell her that Jin and I were together now. I wanted to declare it and consider it as a sign for her to back off, even though she hadn't really done anything to indicate showing any interest in him.

"There's Mihara, let's go talk to her," I said to my boyfriend, and he smiled at me and nodded, still holding my hand.

As we approached the auburn-haired girl (she hadn't seen us and was simply standing in the courtyard, and seemed to be playing with her hands), I could only think of how excited I was to go to his house again that day. The thought of us being alone always produced butterflies in my stomach.

We drew closer to her, and as she turned around and spotted us, Jin suddenly released my hand.

"Hey!" She greeted cheerfully. Jin quickly strode over to where she was standing, and I simply watched with shock eyes.

"I haven't seen you in a while," he told her.

That look was only supposed to be for me, I seethed, grinding the sole of my shoe into the dust.

"Likewise. How've you been?" They were acting as if I wasn't even there. Even though I had the urge to strangle something, I simply stood, staring at them with a glassy expression.

"I'm good. I was thinking, do you want to come over to my house today? Xiaoyu's coming too."

"Sure," she grinned (to me it looked like a smirk).

My world began to spin uncontrollably, and in my mind it had been pushed off its orbit and into the dark corners of space.


End file.
